Dear Friends,
Graduations are happening all around us. College graduations are almost complete, high school
events are happening and our own eighth graders will celebrate their graduation on Monday evening. It
is an exciting time of year for our young people. One step in their life journey is complete and a new one
is about to take place.
Hopefully, they are beginning to learn that all of us are on a journey. No one is finished. No life
is static even if you are living in the same place and doing the same things every day. No one escapes
from the gains and losses that come from simply being human. Life has multiple phases. Just when we
think we are finally done with something or are on our way, then the road changes and we find ourselves
in a place we never expected to be.
If we are living our lives well, and with a bit of reflection, then we know that we must always be
asking the deeper questions…at every stage of our life. What is it all about? What do I really want?
What should I be focusing on? Who am I now? What will really be important when all important things
fade?
Pope Benedict once encouraged his listeners to make sure that they were always pursuing truth,
beauty and love. Everything else, he said, were minor worries and should not concern us. If we seek
after those three lofty items in our lives here on earth, then we are sure to encounter God.
There is a story told about an older woman who was known for her piety and virtue. Whenever
anyone asked her about how she became holy, she would simply respond, “I know what is in the
scriptures.” Once when she was so sick that everyone thought she might die, but never complained,
people asked her, “How do you manage to stay so calm?” she replied, “I know what is in the scriptures.”
When she was robbed of her most precious treasures, her friends asked her why she was not angry and
she replied, “I know what is in the scriptures.” When she was younger, had lost her job, and had no
money to live on, her friends asked her how she had managed to survive and she replied, “I know what
is in the scriptures.” When she finally died, her friends were cleaning out her apartment and found her
bible. When they opened it, they found almost every page of the bible was filled with her scribblings in
the margin. They showed that she had engaged the teachings and was constantly seeking a deeper
understanding of the truth on its pages. Interestingly, they also found a letter from a good friend and
dried pressed flowers. And, they wondered, if these items were a part of what she meant when she said
she knew what is “in” the scriptures – the love of a good friend and the beauty of creation.
If we go through life and do not seek truth, beauty and love, then we have squandered our years.
We will have grasped for the lesser things which were easier to obtain, but did not bring happiness.
Perhaps we were secure or had plenty of money or had power or beauty or fame – those things, while
often sought after in life (and sometimes are needed), deceive us because they come and go.
I pray that our graduates may learn sooner, rather than later, to seek the deeper things as they
journey through life. May they, like the holy woman, “know what is in the scriptures.”
Peace,
Fr. Damian